file(1) [bsd man page]

FILE(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   FILE(1)

NAME

       file - determine file type

SYNOPSIS

       file file ...

DESCRIPTION

       File performs a series of tests on each argument in an attempt to classify it.  If an argument appears to be ascii, file examines the first
       512 bytes and tries to guess its language.

BUGS

       It often makes mistakes.  In particular it often suggests that command files are C programs.

       Does not recognize Pascal or LISP.

7th Edition							  April 29, 1985							   FILE(1)

file(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   file(1)

NAME

       file - determine file type

SYNOPSIS

       mfile] ffile] file ...

   UNIX 2003 (onwards) Synopsis
       mfile] Mfile] ffile] file ...

DESCRIPTION

       performs  a  series  of tests on each file in an attempt to classify it.  If file appears to be an ASCII file, examines the first 512 bytes
       and tries to guess its language.  If file is an executable file, prints the version stamp, provided it is greater than 0 (see the  descrip-
       tion of the option in ld(1)).

       uses  the  file to identify files that have some sort of that is, any file containing a numeric or string constant that indicates its type.
       Commentary at the beginning of explains the format.

   Options
       recognizes the following command-line options:

	      Use alternate magic file
			 mfile.

	      (UNIX 2003 onwards Only)
			 Use alternate magic file Mfile.  Do not apply default context-sensitive tests.

	      Check the magic file for format errors.
			 This validation is not normally carried out for reasons of efficiency.  No file classification is done when  this  option
			 is specified.

	      (UNIX 2003 onwards Only)
			 Apply position-sensitive tests from the default magic file, and default context-sensitive tests to the file.

	      Obtain the list of files to be examined from file
			 ffile.  classifies each file whose name appears in ffile.

	      Do not follow symbolic links.
			 From UNIX 2003 (onwards) environment, if is not specified and the is a symbolic link referring to a non-existent file, it
			 is identified as a symbolic link, as if has been specified.

	      Do not attempt to classify a regular file further.

	      If the option is specified with the option, option, or both, the concatenation of the position-sensitive tests  specified  by  these
	      options is applied in the order specified by the appearance of these options.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

       For information about the UNIX standard environment, see standards(5).

   Environment Variables
       determines the language in which messages are displayed.

       If is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of is used as a default for each unspecified or empty vari-
       able.  If is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of

       If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, behaves as if all internationalization variables are  set  to	"C".   See
       environ(5).

   International Code Set Support
       Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.  However, all non-ASCII text files are identified as "data".

WARNINGS

       The command for a release interprets the core files for that particular release correctly.  Using the command on a core file generated on a
       different release will report incorrect results.

SEE ALSO

       ld(1), standards(5).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

																	   file(1)